ash.
after a much needed phone call with my friend, jill, i rounded the curves near the north end of maple lake, waited for my signal to return and dialed ash's number.you've not ever heard of my friend ash, so let me tell you a little about him.
my last summer at camp was not one that introduced many lasting relationships with the summer staff. i spent most of my time with the family i'd created throughout the winter amongst the permanent staff. i lived at camp. i wasn't just there for the summer. that alone put me on a different schedule.
but one day, i sat next to this guy who was allowed to hang around on the weekends because going home meant driving to texas and that didn't really fit into a two day weekend. i kind of knew him, had ridden with him and others to church on sunday and watched a movie or two with him. but that thursday, after asking all my friends to go with me to madison for joel & nicole's wedding on saturday, i sat down on the front porch of the dining hall. minutes later, ash garza sat next to me. and on a whim, after having given up on going, i asked him, what are you doing this weekend? do you want to go to a wedding with me? his answer made me think he was mocking me because i had never met a guy that loved weddings, but he swore he did. so we made a plan and early saturday morning, we set off.
what a fantastic ride that was. perhaps my favorite ever. this guy, who had made waves at camp by bringing his texas gentlemanly manners with him, turned out to be this incredibly real and funny guy. bumps in the day were never worthy enough to incur a rise in blood temperature or frustration. on the way down, i commented on the sorry state of his windshield wipers, to which he replied, well it doesn't rain in texas. and, he mentioned, they didn't work anyway. it became really funny when it poured 80% of the 6 hr ride back to motley.
we laughed. we talked. he introduced me to "real" country. we came away with inside jokes and a friendship i think i'll always cherish.
after all was said and done that summer, life got rough for me. and i remember ash that fall. i remember him being so stinking loyal. and he was super goofy. he and rudy together meant an endless bout of laughter. and when he went off to iraq that winter, i missed him like crazy. it's not every day you meet up with someone so real. so genuine.
we have kept in very loose contact these last few years, but i cherish even that. tonight when i called though, i didn't get ash. i got some guy whose name i think is purdy bows. which is funny. and i'm certain cannot be right. i didn't want to offend him, so i only asked once. but he knows ash and was going to give my number to ash's mama. and that's who i wait for. because it's been incredibly too long since i've talked to him.
posted by julie @ 11:53 AM
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